Elements of a communication network, such as switches and servers, typically comprise a plurality of units, interconnected by fast buses, such as Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe). The PCIe configuration is typically stored in a configuration space, which is read from and written into using PCIe Configuration cycles. This process is defined in “PCIe Express Bus Specifications,” Revision 4.0, Version 0.9, May 31, 2017, chapter 2.2.7, which is incorporated herein by reference.